The Post In Which I Use the Word "Kulangot"

I've been reflecting on the way that social networking has changed my relationship to blogging (and now I'm reflecting on how ridiculous that sounds). I started tweeting because tweeting is...silly. You have 140 characters to make your statement, plead your case, or just tell the world that you're headed to the gym. It's quick and often hilarious, as when Weez demanded that her Twitter crew must tweet in haiku, and they did it. Such is the power of tweets and/or such is the power of the lovely Weez.

Facebook is another animal altogether. You can throw down larger chunks of text, plus it's easy to link, share what you're reading, etc., so that in many circumstances it has taken the place of (my) blogging. These days, blogs feel a little bit like an Auntie, while Facebook and Twitter are like hyperactive cousins. It's fun to hang out with hyperactive cousins, of course, but there are times when the less frantic, more fully realized existence of Auntie is the only way to go.

In this post, though, all worlds converge as I reveal my favorite blog post, favorite tweet, and favorite Facebook status updates of the week:

My favorite blog post was A.D.'s because 1) I thought he fell off the face of the earth, and I am relieved to know that he did not and 2) he cites Bolano's The Savage Detectives, which I am also reading. In the early pages we witness a poetry throwdown in a classroom at a Mexican university. "There's a time for reciting poems and a time for fists," says the narrator.

My favorite tweet came from my little cousin Lui, who posited a simple question: "There's a New Yorker in the trash can at this BART station. Dare I?" There was no follow-up, but I bet the fear of finding pages 57-58 stuck together with...I don't know...some kind of monster kulangot (okay, I can't believe the Urban Dictionary has an entry for "kulangot") was enough to keep her hands in her coat pockets.

My favorite Facebook status update is a tie. First there was Rich Villar's "Rich is LMAO at Rod Blagojevich getting arrested in a blue jogging suit. OH PLEASE GOD LET THERE BE PICTURES." Basically, he just cracks me up. And then there was Patrick's "Patrick is rockin' it," with a link to this, which made the odious task of unloading the dishwasher just a little less pain-in-the-ass-y.

Thus ends my first ever post in 5 years that includes the word "kulangot." Banner day, my lovelies. Banner day.

Say It To The Hand

I am obsessed with this baby monkey's hands. I don't know why; I just AM.


Its mother is recovering from a C-section, so it's bonding with a teddy bear and receiving daily manicures. I'm kidding about that last part, but it seems perfectly plausible. If your life will not be complete without finding out more, click here.

Sinatra In The Background and What's In A Name?

Apropos of nothing, Lea is listening to Frank Sinatra. "Summer Wind," to be specific.

***

I'm following with interest this preoccupation with Barack Obama's middle name. Certain hatemongers (Ann Coulter, cough cough, Tennessee Republican Party, cough cough, Bill Cunningham, cough-ity cough cough cough cough) love to point out over and over again that said middle name is "Hussein." Author Juan Cole has a terrific blog post on the subject. An excerpt:

I want to say something about Barack Hussein Obama's name. It is a name to be proud of. It is an American name. It is a blessed name. It is a heroic name, as heroic and American in its own way as the name of General Omar Nelson Bradley or the name of Benjamin Franklin. And denigrating that name is a form of racial and religious bigotry of the most vile and debased sort. It is a prejudice against names deriving from Semitic languages...

You can read the whole thing here.

I've mentioned before that security guards at Serramonte Mall used to demand to know the last names of Filipino kids, and then would proceed to mock the ones they felt were particularly ridiculous. And years ago while visiting with some friends of my in-laws, our host (how we arrived at the topic, I cannot recall) mentioned that when thumbing through resumés for administrative positions at his law firm, he dismissed—as a rule—any applicant with a foreign-sounding name. "My name is Maria Veronica Montes,'" I said. "Would you throw out my resumé?" And, quite matter-of-factly, he answered "Yes." And, quite matter-of-factly I thought, "Hmmm. Your loss." And also, "Hmmm, Mr. Lawyer. That's illegal."

So...what's in a name? Much more—and much less—than willfully ignorant people believe.

***

Now it's "My Way," which I will admit to singing with gusto in the privacy of my bedroom at approximately age 9.

A Friday Gift For You

The LAGALAG Project

20 Filipinos + 2 Moleskines + the Diaspora = THIS.

Dreamy.

via Moleskinerie

Just & Here

Just listened...to Junot Diaz reading his now-classic, "How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)," here.

Just amazed...by the fact that an entry on men's shorts at The Sartorialist garnered 198 comments here.

Just enjoyed...the post "Filial Piety" at Chasing the Red Balloon here.

Just dropped...my jaw at what I believe is perhaps A.D.'s longest post in recent history here, a post which was inspired by Jean's intriguing post here.




Just finished...reading Coraline (here) which is technically a short novel for children, but which is so freaking creepy I cannot imagine reading it to my kids for another 5 years.




Just coveting...this little print here for my new reading corner. A true steal at $13!


Just impressed...by Vida (here), who is at this very moment explaining the concept of word families to Lea: "All these words like 'sat,' 'mat,' 'hat,' 'cat,' are called 'word families' because they all end with 'at' and they also all rhyme. Do you see that?"